The four or five best techniques, judged on quality, innovation, usefulness, and clarity, will be posted on my blog. The two very best technique will win a prize: an inscribed copy of one of my books, of the winner’s choice. The very best technique will also win a free Lenormand Grand Tableau reading or a geomantic reading (your choice) in addition to the book.

Deadline will be Samhain, October 31.

ETA: Let me clarify that it is my hope you will explain, briefly, how to accomplish your technique so that people can learn it or apply it.

Recently, Nick Farrell wrote a post in which he enumerated several signs that you’re not a real magician. Some of these signs are things I agree with, but some I disagree with strongly, so I’d like to counter with my own short list of signs that you are in fact a magician, inspired by his post.

1. You dress consciously in order to achieve the outcome you wish. For some environments, that’s a suit and tie. For others, it’s a t-shirt and jeans. For yet others, it might be all black with a pentagram. It depends on what you wish to achieve, and you recognize that clothes are potent symbols in our culture. You don’t wear a toga to a job interview, unless togas are the expected attire at that job.

2. You do regular magical work, balancing between “hot” or practical work and “cool” or preparatory work. You don’t sneer at theurgy because it “isn’t practical,” because you know that it’s profoundly practical. You also don’t sneer at results-based magic as beneath you, because you know that we live in this world. The amount of time you spend doing work per day is irrelevant; some days it may be ten minutes, some days three hours. You recognize that any practice as organic and personal as magic doesn’t lend itself to a schedule.

3. Your life is better than it was, and getting better all the time, on all levels: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, social, monetary, health, and so on. Of course, you may have setbacks and bad things may happen; those are opportunities to show what you’re made of. If you can deal with such things without falling apart, you’re doing well.

4. You don’t blame magic for your relationship failures. Sometimes relationships fail, sometimes they succeed. Magic can help you have more meaningful relationships.

5. You have some magical gear, but you don’t need it. When you use it, you use it to help you work more efficiently, just like any tool.

6. You talk, think, and practice occultism. All three.

7. You’re an interesting person, with varied interests. If you don’t think a hobby is “worthy” because it isn’t magical, your imagination has failed you. If you think hobbies are just ways to meet people, you have failed at being interesting enough to deserve to meet people.

8. You have an active social life. Many magicians are introverts, but even introverts have friends and a social life outside of their magical temple. If your best friends are spirits, you are not succeeding at part of being human, which is being human among other humans. You don’t need to be an extrovert, but you need to have some social contact with people you like, who like you.

9. You recognize that a healthy person prioritizes their life, and can regard several things as important. If you have kids, and they are not more important than magic, then you are a terrible magician and an awful person.

11. You understand that the difference between “physical” and “mental,” and the difference between “literal” and “figurative” are not easily delineated differences. They are actually philosophically complex ideas. You explore those ideas, not dismiss them.

12. You think magic is about what you can get out of life, to make it more worthwhile and fulfilling, all the way up Maslow’s pyramid to the very top.